June 2013

A huge project I’ve been working on for a while was announced on Monday – I’ll be writing “Superman / Wonder Woman,” an ongoing series for DC Comics that will feature Clark Kent and Diana of Themyscira as the main characters. Tony S. Daniel is drawing it (and boy howdy is he a talented SOB.) This sort of thing has been done in the past – Batman and Superman in particular have a long history of teaming up in a single title, from “World’s Finest” to the most recent iteration of “Batman – Superman,” written by my pal Greg Pak (the first issue of which hits shelves next week, in fact.) What makes S/WW different is that the main characters are currently embroiled in a romantic relationship, and the title will explore that angle in a significant way. It’s not going to just be about that, but they’re absolutely “together,” in every sense. In fact, that’s what attracted me to the project in the first place – it’s a chance to tell stories about superhero adventures on a gigantic scale with a very personal angle attached to it. (Although let’s get real here – ANY chance to write a title featuring two of the most popular and significant characters in all of popular culture is nothing to sneeze at.)

So, the announcement hit a few days ago, and the reaction has been fascinating to me. There’s been a lot of support, but there’s also been a fair amount of discussion (particularly on Twitter) from people who wish that DC would focus on a romance between Clark Kent and Lois Lane. I haven’t gotten too involved in that on Twitter one way or the other, mainly because I think Twitter is a terrible place for making reasoned arguments. Blogs, however…

A few things about relationships that I’ve come to believe over the course of my life:

You need to date before you figure out how to have a mature, grown-up relationship that will stand the test of time. You learn from your previous mistakes, and then you bring that experience to the one that sticks. You also come to understand what you want and need out of a partner – none of that will happen unless you have some relationships along the way that do not work for the long haul.

A relationship doesn’t have to last for the long haul for it to be valuable. I still have extremely fond memories of some of the relationships I was in during high school, college, etc. They didn’t last, but they were all a big part of my own emotional development. Not to trivialize, but a relationship can be like a really great song – some are bubblegum pop that give you a rush for a while until the initial thrill wears off, but others are deep, more complex experiences that you can return to again and again over the course of your life.

What the world needs now is love, sweet love. That’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.

In a nutshell, then – I think that exploring a relationship between Superman and Wonder Woman will help both characters grow significantly. Whatever happens in their futures (and I’m sure it’ll be all kinds of crazy business – it’s comics, after all), this is where they are now, and I feel fortunate to be the one seeing how it all works out.

A couple other notes – first, I’m not dropping any titles that I’m currently working on. My workload is intense right now, but I can handle it. I’m way ahead on scripts for Letter 44, and I have a nice backlog for Swamp Thing, Red Lanterns and Thunderbolts. If it gets to the point where stories are starting to suffer (and I’m sure the Internet will let me know if that happens), I’ll move away from some of that, but right now I think we’re good.

I’ll be attending San Diego Comicon in about a month. That show is always insane, but I expect this year to be crazier than most. I’ll be doing a lot of signings, panels and so on, and I’ll post my full schedule as soon as it gets locked down. In particular, I know Oni’s planning to do a bunch of cool stuff with respect to Letter 44, even… just maybe… some show exclusives. That series is going to be amazing (uh, if I do say so myself – I’m just really proud of it), so this will be your chance to get on the wagon train (to the stars!) early.

Finally, let me thank those of you who have read, reviewed, tweeted about, FBed, Amazon starred, ordered for your shop or otherwise helped to get the word out about my latest OGN Strange Attractors. It’s been just about a month since it came out, and the reaction has been UNBELIEVABLE. People really seem to be finding it, and that’s all I can ask as a writer. If you’re curious about my work on Superman / Wonder Woman, and you to want to see how I handle relationships and character stuff, you could do a lot worse than Strange Attractors. Here’s a link to the Amazon page, and here’s one to the Comixology page if you’d rather read it digitally.

Speaking of Strange Attractors, I’m doing a really cool signing event at Bergen Street Comics here in Brooklyn next Wednesday, June 26. Bergen Street is one of the coolest comics shops I’ve ever been to – I’ve been shopping there for years, and I’m honored they asked me to do an event there. The specifics are here, but in a nutshell, I’ll be having a conversation with the very talented Ales Kot about his new graphic novel Change, while he asks me questions about Strange Attractors. Ales is a really sharp guy, so I expect the discussion will go to some cool places. There will also be free drinks, and tons of awesome stuff for sale – it’s a comic shop, after all. (Among other things, the first issue of my Red Lanterns run hits stands that day, but they’ll also have plenty of Strange Attractors, Swamp Thing and other books around from both Ales and myself.) Here’s the sweet poster for the event:

Groovy, right?

See you soon!

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About the Site:

Charles Soule – writer.

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LETTER 44! My ongoing sci-fi tale about a President who learns at his inauguration that the previous administration discovered an alien presence in the asteroid belt and covered it up. Now, it’s his problem. Alien meets House of Cards. Get it here!